Was Love Unheard?
by AutisticKogayne
Summary: "Mmm, Keith?" "Yeah?" "I love you…" "Hunk...I love you too. Hunk? Hunk! Open your eyes Hunk! You don't get to tell me you love me and then die! Hunk, open your fucking eyes! HUNK!"
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Keith?"

"Stop talking Hunk. The others are on their way."

"Heh, that's good. Means you won't have to carry my body back by yourself. Gotta admit, **that** was a concern."

"Seriously Hunk, **stop talking**. You're going to be fine. Coran said he already has a pod ready back at the castle, so you just have to hold on a little longer."

"You know, you're so beautiful. Even when you cry, although I think I like it better when you smile."

"Hunk, I swear to god-"

"No, let me talk. Even if I survive this, which isn't looking too likely with the blood I've already lost, I'd be in the cryopod for a **while** , and I want to tell you this while I have the chance."

"Hunk, **please-** "

"I love you. I didn't want to tell you until I could really figure it out, pinpoint the exact moment I realized, but I can't. Loving you seems to be as much a part of me as my being the yellow paladin and I regret not telling you sooner. I'm sorry Keith."

" **Shut. Up.** If you were really sorry, you wouldn't have done this. If you die, I swear to god I will find a way to bring you back just to kill you myself."

"Pfft, should've known you'd say something like that…"

"Yeah you should've known. Oh, Shiro and Lance are running over here now. You're gonna be fine, you just need to hold on for a minute longer."

"Mmm, Keith?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you…"

"Hunk...I love you too. Hunk? Hunk! Open your eyes Hunk! You don't get to tell me you love me and then die! Hunk, open your **fucking** eyes! **HUNK!** "

* * *

His eyes snap open, and without a second to spare, he's rolling out of bed and darting to the bathroom, throwing up the little he had managed to hold down at dinner. When he's finished, he manages to flush the toilet with shaking hands and pull himself to his feet. He shuffles to the sink, rinsing his mouth out with the cup of water he'd left there before going to bed and avoiding his own eyes in the mirror.

He knows how terrible he looks, bags so dark under his eyes they look like bruises, skin unnaturally pale, and hair tangled and matted. While the others had felt better once Hunk had come out of the healing pod after their last mission, Keith only found himself feeling worse.

He had taken to avoiding the yellow paladin any way he could, including skipping meals and sneaking into the kitchen when it was empty. While he was positive everyone had noticed, no one had confronted him on it so he considered it fine for the time being.

Stepping out of the bathroom, he looked at his bed for a second before shaking his head and heading out of his bedroom door. He could try to get back to sleep, but he knew that simply laying there would probably just lead to him fixating on his nightmare, so he figured sitting in the control room and watching the stars through the windows would be a better idea.

Shuffling down the hall, he finally made it to his destination and settled against the steps, sighing at the grounding feeling of the cold against the back of his thighs. Closing his eyes, he took a few deep breaths before opening them and looking out at the stars they were passing.

He didn't know how long he sat there, the quiet of the room ad the calming atmosphere leading to his eyes drooping and before he knew it, he'd fallen asleep again.

* * *

"Hunk! Shiro, let me go, you have to help Hunk! Hunk, **please** , you can't just say that to me and be gone. Shiro, **let me go!** "

"Keith, stop! He's gone, Keith. He's gone."

"No, he can't be! We just have to get him to the pods and he'll be fine! Lance, why aren't you helping? Lance!"

"Keith, stop yelling at Lance. I'm sorry, but it's too late for a pod. He's dead Keith, and we need to get you out of here before we're all killed."

"No, Hunk! Shiro, put me down! We can't leave without Hunk! Shiro, **please!** "

"Keith, I'm sorry but we have to go."

"No! I don't even know if he heard me tell him I love him too. What if he died without knowing that? What if he died thinking I didn't love him too? Shiro, **please** , let me go!"

* * *

When Keith jolted back into consciousness this time, it wasn't with the extreme panic and nausea from earlier, but with his heart in his throat and a warm hand running fingers through his hair.

Pulling his arms away from where they'd been curled to his chest, he wiped at the tears he hadn't noticed at first, ears ringing from his dream before finally settling.

"...Keith? You're alright buddy…"

Giving up on wiping the tears that only seemed to be coming faster, he turned to the voice, brain taking several moments to process the softly smiling face in front of him.

"...Hunk?"

Smiling, Hunk reached out, one hand on the back of his head and the other wrapped around his shoulder, pulling him in for a hug and settling his face right in the crook of Hunk's neck.

"Yeah...let's go back to bed."

Without any visible strain, Hunk pulled Keith in closer before fully picking him up, one arm under his shoulders and the other under his knees. Keith simply buried his face back into Hunk's shoulder, too tired and fuzzy headed to think about the fact that Hunk was walking straight to his own room instead of Keith's.

"Hunk?" Keith finally mumbled, pulling away from Hunk enough to look up at his face. "Where are we going?"

"My room. We've all noticed you haven't exactly been yourself, and while our original plan was to let you sort things out on your own, that doesn't exactly seem to be working. Also, Shiro told me you had something to tell me, and the way he told me makes me think it has something to do with the way you've been acting lately."

Shifting Keith in his arms, Hunk reached out to slap the panel to open his door before strolling right in and setting Keith on the bed. While Keith sat still, fingers tracing nonsensical patterns into the sheets, Hunk darted around the room, grabbing as many pillows and blankets as he could and tossing them on the bed beside Keith.

"What are you doing?" Keith asked after dodging the eighth pillow Hunk had launched at the bed.

"Well, I figured it'd be easier to have this conversation if we were both comfortable, so I'm grabbing all the pillows and blankets I have. I don't really feel like making a full pillow fort, but we could probably make a blanket nest?"

Humming, Keith helped him arrange the pillows and blankets into a vaguely nest like shape, enough room in the middle for them lay beside each other with a few inches of space between them. Once it was finished, they both crawled in without a word, Hunk laying on his back with Keith curled on his side, back toward the other boy.

"So, want to tell me what Shiro said you had to tell me?"

"No."

"Want to at least tell me what's had you acting so differently recently?"

"No."

"Ahh, but you admit you've been acting differently recently?"

"Hunk-"

"No, let me talk," Hunk replied, turning from his back to his side so he was nearly spooning Keith, "You've been withdrawn recently, more so than usual, and it's worrying everyone. I know everyone wanted to give you space to deal with whatever it was that's been upsetting you, but at this point I'm worried about your health. It's obvious you haven't been sleeping, and since you've been avoiding eating with the rest of us, I'm not sure you're really eating like you should. I'm trying not to push, but we're worried about you. I'm worried about you."

"Don't."

"Keith-"

"No! You don't get to act all concerned about me now after what you did!" Keith snapped, turning from where he lay to poke a finger into Hunk's chest, "You died Hunk, in my arms, right after telling me how much you loved me. I got to hold you as help arrived barely seconds too late, not knowing whether or not you knew how much I loved you too."

"Keith," Hunk whispered, heart cracking in his chest when he saw the tears forming in the corners of Keith's eyes, "I'm okay now."

"Yeah, only because Allura was so close! Did you know she told us that if she had shown up even a few ticks later, you'd be dead permanently?"

"Keith-"

"And even after she brought you back, you were in that cryopod for months. Allura and Coran weren't even sure the cryopod would be enough to keep you alive until you'd been in there for almost a week. And of course, after you come out, you act like nothing's changed!"

"I'm sorry."

Pausing, Keith blinked through the tears that had escaped and tilted his head to look up at Hunk, brow furrowing when he noticed the way Hunk's eyes shone in the dimmed light.

"Hunk?"

"I'm sorry Keith. I shouldn't have confessed like I did, and I know now how cruel it was to do that to you. But, I did hear you Keith. Even if my death was only temporary, I was so incredibly happy that the last thing I got to see was your face, and the last thing I heard was you telling me you loved me. When I woke up, I had honestly convinced myself that you confessing was a hallucination, and I didn't want to make things awkward by trying to talk to you when you seemed so upset. I'm sorry Keith."

Trying, and failing once again, to wipe away his tears, Keith let himself be pulled into Hunk's arms and soothed, warm fingers running through his hair as Hunk's other hand rubbed calming circles into his back.

"I don't expect you to forgive me, at least not anytime soon, but I want you to know that I meant what I said before. I love you, and I don't think I could stop loving you if I tried. I don't want you to feel obligated to try to love me back, and I completely understand if you confessing was a heat of the moment thing, especially since I was dying."

"You know, for such a genius, you're kind of an idiot," Keith muttered, pulling back from Hunk's arms so he could make eye contact with him, "I love you. That's what Shiro wanted me to tell you. When you died, I wasn't sure whether or not you had heard me, and when you woke up, Shiro told me I should tell you again so I wouldn't regret anything if something happened to either of us. I'm not saying this because I feel obligated, or because I don't want to hurt your feelings. I'm saying this because I love you, and I don't want anything like that situation happening again."

Grinning, Hunk grabbed one of Keith's hands, intertwining their fingers together before bringing the hands to his face so he could kiss each of the other boy's knuckles.

"Hey, Keith?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"...I love you too."

"Man, I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of hearing that. Although, now that we've gotten the dramatic love confessions out of the way, I think we should go to sleep."

"Mmm, that does sound like a good idea," Keith yawned, fumbling behind him for a blanket to pull over the both of them, sighing and cuddling up to Hunk once he got it wrapped around them both, "G'night Hunk."

"Goodnight Keith. I love you."

"Love you too."

"Yep, never going to get tired of hearing that. Almost think it was worth dying for"

"Shut up and go to sleep."

"Aye, aye captain."


	2. Epilogue

"Okay, so we've got the classic chocolate chip, chocolate chunk, chocolate chocolate chip, sugar, snickerdoodle, oatmeal, peanut butter, creme brulee, no bakes, and of course, peanut butter chocolate chip." Lance proclaimed, waving an arm out towards the counter where what looked like hundreds of cookies lay.

"Sweet cheese and crackers," Hunk muttered, turning from where he was staring in shock at the cookies to Lance. "What happened?"

"Well~," Lance drawled with a smirk, slinking into the kitchen and grabbing one of the chocolate chip cookies, "When you got put into the cryopod, Keith kinda flipped out and started working himself to the bone in the training room. I guess Shiro found out and tried to convince Keith to stop, but when he didn't, he had Allura change the lock code on the door so Keith couldn't get in. Apparently when the option to punch his feelings out is gone, Keith turns to stress baking. Who knew?"

"Keith made...all of this?"

"Yeah! There was actually like, a four layer chocolate cake with some kind of raspberry filling too, but Shiro completely took that thing for himself. Oh, and a thing of chocolate chunk brownies, but Pidge and I devoured those."

Hunk found his brain short circuiting at the thought of all the time Keith must've spent in the kitchen to make so many sweets, and without much thought, he reached out, grabbed a chocolate chip cookie, took a bite, and had his mind completely blown.

"Holy shit," he whispered, blinking down at the cookie in his hand before taking another bite, "Holy. Shit."

"I know right? No hate man, but I think his cookies might be a little better than yours." Lance grinned, grabbing a snickerdoodle this time.

"No think, these cookies are definitely better than mine." Hunk muttered, finishing his cookie and looking around to decide which one to try next.

Before he could actually decide, stuck between the no bakes or peanut butter chocolate chips, Keith walked in, hair tied back in a ponytail and a towel thrown across his shoulders.

"What's going on?" He asked, looking between Hunk, Lance, and the cookies still sitting on the counter.

"Keith, Keith," Hunk spoke, stepping forward and placing his hands on his boyfriend's shoulders, "Why didn't you tell us that you could bake like this?"

Raising an eyebrow, Keith turned to Lance for a moment before looking back at where Hunk was staring at him as if he'd just announced that the galaxy was free, Zarkon was dead, and they were heading home.

"Because it's not a big deal? I was stressed, I rushed through a bunch of cookies, and then I went and took a shower."

"Keith. These cookies are 100% worth me dying."

Behind him, Lance let out a hiss and what sounded like a whisper of 'too soon'. Turning to look at him over his shoulder, Hunk winced.

"Too soon?"

"Definitely."

In front of him, Keith had gone from looking mildly confused to incredibly upset.

"If that's what you think, I'll make sure not to make them again, just so you don't get any ideas." He spoke, stepping back from Hunk and turning to leave the room.

Blinking in shock, Hunk turned to Lance, who only shook his head at him, grabbed another cookie, and left the same way Keith had. Looking between the cookies and the door Keith had left from, Hunk hurriedly snatched up two of the chocolate chunk ones and raced out the door to find Keith.

"Keith! Baby, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! Please don't deprive us all of your wonderful baking just because it's so good it makes me say stupid things! Keith? Keith please!"


End file.
